Sunday, 24 March 2013

Last year, I wrote a blog post: Spirituality and History,
and the way in which many historians overlook this vital aspect in our
understanding of how people acted in the past. Recently, after watching an
interesting documentary about the history of early 20th century Germany and the
rise of the Nazis, this idea has been recurring again and again alongside the
importance of recognising the power of belief...which, I believe, is probably
the most powerful force in our experience.

Without a doubt, many leaders have understood this vital aspect of our
nature and many have misused that understanding in order to control people.The
documentary showed how, at the beginning of the 20th century, rapid
industrialisation and the migration to overcrowded, unhealthy cities, led many
people to long for a return to a healthier way of life which was more in tune
with nature. To that end, various groups were established to encourage people to
go out into the countryside, to swim in lakes and rivers, take long walks, adopt
a vegetarian/healthier diet etc. etc. All these things were good and people
could see that they were good and healthy and restored a sense of connection
with the past. This beneficial belief, however, was adopted and then distorted
by several leading Nazis, who added to it the repugnant idea that anyone who did
not live up to the ideal, which this lifestyle was creating, should be removed
from the country. As the distorted belief took hold, it was only a small step to
saying that, rather than being removed, those who didn’t ‘fit the bill’ should
be killed. It was often baffling to me to understand how so many ‘good’ people
could be led so easily into believing that death camps and genocide were
acceptable. Seeing the progress of a belief, it is easy to see how that
happened.

The Nazis were not alone in distorting beliefs, though. In the Middle
Ages, the Vatican was rebuilt by the money donated by those who were terrified
into donating vast sums to buy indulgences which, they believed, would pave
their way into heaven. In order to promote that belief, churches were filled
with horrific paintings of hell, with devils torturing the damned for all
eternity. If you believed that would happen, you would be more than willing to
pay for an indulgence to buy your way out of it. In recent times, too, there are
numerous beliefs which seem to me to be quite ridiculous but we cling to them
because they have been so instilled in us. For example, we were to believe in
global warming – even though many eminent scientists proved that the world was
actually cooling – and, once we believed that we needed to save the planet, we
were willing to pay more for light bulbs, which give hardly any light and are
filled with mercury, and adopt all kinds of other measures which, in fact, have
created several billionaires who were invested in promoting and selling these
products. We have often been taught to believe that there are enemies who are
waiting to attack us and so we willingly yield our liberty and allow ourselves
to be searching or x-rayed in airports and elsewhere 'for our own
protection’. We have been told there is a world food shortage, but at the
same time, giant companies, like Monsanto, are creating seeds which will not
reproduce and are compelling poor farmers to buy them, while, at the same time,
creating other GMO crops, the effects of which are undoubtedly
dangerous, and we accept it because we believe they will end starvation.
We believe there is a world-wide recession and consequently, when so many
businesses are closing and people are losing their jobs, we accept it is ‘just
one of those things’ but, in fact, all recessions are engineered and planned in
advance to the advantage of certain banking families. On and on it
goes...

And why do we believe these things? Surely it is because there are
two driving forces in humanity: Love and Fear. Love enables mutual co-operation,
contentment, aspiration, expansion. Fear stifles independence and freedom and
turns us into slaves. I made a decision some weeks ago to base every decision
and every choice and every belief and every action on a simple question: is this
based on love or on fear? Even in everyday life the results have been quite
startling to me...and I truly believe now that this is the swiftest route
to true freedom and a return to our natural dignity, which has so often been
crushed by distorted beliefs.

On a separate note, I am also happy to announce that my earliest book: ‘The Counting House’ has now been reproduced in a second edition and, thanks to the
success of the other books, I have been able to reduce the cost by several
pounds or dollars. ‘The Fields Laid Waste’ will also be available in a second
edition very shortly:

is FREE today

for Kindles

Monday, 11 March 2013

To say thank you to the lovely people who have been so kind as to purchase
my books and send me so many kind emails recently about “Queen Victoria’s Granddaughters” and other books,
I would like very much to give you a free copy of another of my books ‘The
Counting House’. The book will be free on Kindles throughout the world on Wednesday 13th March and, although
it is very different from my historical fiction and biographies, I hope you will
enjoy it!

“When seven-year-old Georgie, desperate to win the attention of her
hero, James, steals a candlestick from a cemetery lodge, she believes that the
devil has seen her and will follow her home. Her conviction is heightened that
evening when tragedy strikes the family. Guilt-ridden, Georgie sets out on a
quest to become a saint, in the hope that God will grant her a miracle. Her
sincere but often bizarre efforts lead her through various escapades from a
remote Yorkshire farmhouse to being lost in London, when she is accosted by a
sinister stranger. The arrival of a distant relative throws her world into
greater confusion as she comes to understand the nature of good, evil and
accident. The story is populated by a variety of eccentric characters; feisty
ex-suffragette, Great Aunt Lucy; the pious but increasingly senile Great Aunt
Philomena; beautiful French Aunt Marie and her huge explorer husband; the cruel
teacher, Miss Keppel; and the contrasting personalities of Georgie and her
friends and siblings."

Monday, 4 March 2013

An article in Saturday’s Telegraph described
the Duke of Gloucester’s concern for the dignity of his predecessor – Richard
III. More interesting than the article itself was a comment by ‘EmilyEnso’ who
observed that the decision about Richard’s interment lies not with the
government, the Queen or the people, but solely with the University of
Leicester. As the commenter points out:

“One can only say that for a
University to decide on the burial place of an English King is utterly bizarre
and that the University would callously then disregard that monarch's known wish
to be buried in York is both wrong and contemptible in the extreme.I am
gratified that someone is now asking about the dignity of this much wronged man.
Apparently the latest idea is to expose a mock up of this disabled man's
skeleton for public view at a price.”

The rest of the comment is also extremely
interesting and pertinent and well worth a read!!